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Make Needle Threaders Last Longer

When I started doing a lot of embroidery, I tried pretty much every needle threader there is. But for threading stranded floss, I kept coming back to those cheap little threaders that come in a 3-pack for a dollar with the little wires that break at the drop of a hat. I find them so much quicker and easier to use, and the heavier-duty ones that I use for things like perle cotton tend to shred my floss when I use them for lighter things.

But those cheap threaders were making me crazy because they broke constantly. I was going through one or two a week, which was completely unreasonable. I did some searching to try to find out whether there was a similar threader that was more sturdy but came up with nothing. But I did find some great advice: Put a drop of super glue (aka cyanoacrylate glue) on the spot where the flimsy little wire attaches to the holder. (I can’t remember where I saw this, probably on the quiltingboard.com forums.)

I gave it a try on the two threaders I had, and it worked perfectly. I’ve been using those two for months now. I lost one of them, and the other one is only just starting to look like it’s going to break soon from being bent back into the right shape too many times. Now that I needed to make some more, I figured I’d pass it on in case I wasn’t the only person in the world who didn’t know about this.

Couple of tips: You only need one drop. It’ll spread and get all over everything if you put on too much. I only needed to put it on one side — it seems to seep through the slots to the other side on its own. Then let it sit for at least a few hours. Don’t touch it to see if it’s dry yet, or you’ll end up with a needle threader glued to your finger. (Ask me how I know this!) But if you do get one glued to yourself, acetone (or any nail polish remover that isn’t labeled acetone-free) will take it off.